Scalable and Replicable Watershed Resilience Evaluation | W81EWF 24 SOI 0030

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the Scalable and Replicable Watershed Resilience Evaluation opportunity?

This opportunity is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) cooperative agreement focused on creating practical, repeatable ways to measure and improve resilience across entire watersheds. The emphasis is on approaches that can be customized and reused by different watershed jurisdictions rather than one-off, location-specific studies.

What is the main goal of the project?

The main goal is to develop scalable methods, tools, and decision-support approaches that help communities and jurisdictions understand watershed-wide resilience, identify vulnerabilities and interdependencies, and prioritize actions that measurably improve resilience across a basin.

What does “watershed resilience” mean in the context of this opportunity?

In this context, watershed resilience focuses on how essential watershed functions continue to operate in the face of threats, including both isolated threats affecting specific locations and multiple, compounding threats impacting the whole basin. It specifically emphasizes how community-level projects and systems depend on one another to keep critical functions running.

Who is issuing and managing this funding opportunity?

The opportunity is issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) as a discretionary science and technology research and development award under a cooperative agreement.

What type of award is this?

This is a cooperative agreement (noted as a discretionary science and technology research and development award). It is identified under CFDA 12.630.

How many awards are expected to be made?

The opportunity expects to make a single award.

What is the maximum funding amount available?

The ceiling for this opportunity is $215,000.

What is the funding opportunity number?

The funding opportunity number listed is W81EWF 24 SOI 0030.

What was the original closing date for submissions?

The original closing date listed for submissions was 2024-07-31.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is restricted to non-federal partners of the Piedmont-South Atlantic Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU).

Does the opportunity focus on a particular watershed or basin?

Yes. While the work is meant to be transferable and replicable across watersheds, the primary focus for threat and vulnerability analysis is the Savannah River Basin.

How is the project structured?

The project is organized around two main objectives: (1) developing a methodological toolbox for quantifying resilience and supporting mitigation decisions at the watershed scale, and (2) building collaborative decision-making approaches that help communities and jurisdictions form a shared watershed-wide vision of resilience.

What is Objective 1 about?

Objective 1 focuses on building a methodological toolbox to quantify resilience and support mitigation decisions at the watershed scale. ERDC will run field campaigns and provide data to the recipient, and the recipient will analyze those data to identify vulnerabilities and interdependencies among critical functions and infrastructure.

What framework is the work expected to align with?

The work is expected to align with ERDC’s existing resilience research, particularly the Resilience Matrix framework, which evaluates resilience across three phases (absorb, recover, adapt) and three domains (physical, information, social).

What kinds of approaches and products are expected under Objective 1?

Under Objective 1, the recipient is expected to develop replicable approaches to:

• Identify and prioritize critical infrastructure at both community and watershed levels
• Analyze which critical assets are most vulnerable to a wide range of threats (primary focus on the Savannah River Basin)
• Evaluate supply and demand for critical functions supported by the highest-priority infrastructure
• Analyze interdependencies among infrastructure and primary functions
• Assess consequences of disruptions at local and watershed scales
• Build a screening and visualization tool that highlights vulnerabilities and potential failure points
• Document how to use the screening tool in collaborative settings that include public and private stakeholders

What is the “screening and visualization tool” expected to do?

The screening and visualization tool is expected to highlight vulnerabilities and potential failure points across the watershed. The opportunity also calls for documentation describing how to use the tool in collaborative settings that include both public and private stakeholders.

What is Objective 2 about?

Objective 2 focuses on collaborative decision-making approaches that help communities and jurisdictions create a shared, watershed-wide vision of resilience. ERDC will provide data, and the recipient will conduct more complex analyses to produce decision support methods that connect local priorities with basin-wide challenges.

What is the main expected deliverable under Objective 2?

The expected output is a deliverable describing tools and methods to prioritize actions in ways that measurably enhance resilience while accounting for competing needs across the basin.

What kinds of activities are included under Objective 2?

Objective 2 activities are expected to include methods to:

• Identify watershed objectives and priorities
• Assess where priorities align or conflict, including synergies and friction points
• Help communities identify and make use of government resources
• Develop and communicate scenarios that support collaborative decisions
• Create serious-game style applications (“sim city like”) that let stakeholders test resilience strategies against plausible scenarios

What role does ERDC play in the project work?

ERDC will run field campaigns and provide the resulting data to the selected recipient. The recipient is then expected to analyze that information and produce methods, tools, and decision-support outputs described under the two objectives.

Why does the opportunity emphasize scalability and replicability?

The program aims to move beyond one-off studies by creating customizable processes, methods, and tools that different watershed jurisdictions around the country can adopt and apply. A recurring theme is usability and transferability so results can be replicated elsewhere.

What does “playbook format” mean for deliverables?

The opportunity calls for products that can be packaged into a playbook format so watershed jurisdictions can customize the approach and replicate it in other places.

Is technology transfer part of the intent of this effort?

Yes. The effort is intended to interface with, and potentially be combined with, related ERDC technology transfer work so methods and tools can be adopted by others over time.

Are public and private stakeholders expected to be involved?

Yes. The opportunity specifically calls for documenting how to use the screening tool in collaborative settings that include both public and private stakeholders, and Objective 2 focuses heavily on collaborative decision-making across communities and jurisdictions.

What are the disclosure requirements applicants need to be aware of?

Applicants are expected to pay close attention to disclosures of current and pending support. Incomplete or problematic disclosures can make an applicant ineligible. ERDC may also request updates before award and during the performance period, with the possibility of discontinuing funding if issues arise.

Can funding be discontinued after award?

Yes. Based on the stated disclosure requirements, ERDC may request updates before award and during the performance period and may discontinue funding if issues arise related to those disclosures.

What kinds of threats are considered in the vulnerability analysis?

The opportunity calls for analyzing vulnerability of critical assets to a wide range of threats, including both isolated threats to specific locations and multiple, compounding threats that affect the whole basin.

What does the opportunity mean by “critical functions” and “critical infrastructure”?

Based on the description, “critical infrastructure” refers to high-priority assets at community and watershed scales, and “critical functions” refer to essential services or operations supported by that infrastructure. The work includes evaluating supply and demand for those functions and analyzing interdependencies and disruption consequences at local and watershed levels.